Rat, Cat, Crystal Ball
by Tiberius Jones
Summary: Another Drabble challenge. Peter Pettigrew must get out of Hogwarts before Serius Black finds him. Join him in his escape attempt.


_I add my thanks to Mrs, Rowling for her wonderful characters and world that inspires the imagination._

Ron sat upright from a dead sleep. He looked about wildly. Something was not right, but all he saw were the sleeping figures of Harry, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Everything was okay, well, if you considered Neville's loud snores to be okay. Wearily he lay back down and was soon slumbering once more.

What he did not know, was that Scabbers had climbed down his sheets and had scampered through a hole in the bottom corner of the door. Scabbers had been gnawing at it since the beginning of term. He was frightened. More frightened than he had been in more than twelve years. Serius Black had escaped Azkaban. He had to get away, _he knew, how did he know_?

It took only a few seconds for Scabbers to chew a small hole in the Fat Lady's portrait, she did not even wake up. He scurried down the passageway, his destination the entrance hall. Classes would begin in a few hours, he would wait for them to open the doors and he would escape. _Flee. Flee where_, he thought.

He was on the third step of the second floor staircase when he sensed movement. What was it? It was moving slowly forward. Scabbers pressed into the shadows, sniffing the air, but still could not make out the source.

Mrs, Norris was lazily making her way to the second floor helping her master look for students out of bed as he was wont to do. She was not really paying attention, but from the corner of her eye she thought she saw movement. Her head came up and she froze in place. There, in the shadows, she saw the faint sign of movement.

It was too small to be a student. _What if it is a small animal_, she thought happily. She had not had the opportunity to chase live prey since she was a kitten. She had caught a bird. Since then she had never tasted anything so good. It must be the adrenaline that made it taste better. Except spiders, she did not care for them, all ick and crunch.

Scabbers stepped tentatively backwards up to the second step. He did not want to be seen. Slowly he made it to the first step. He was briefly lit by the torch light as he backed onto the landing, running around the corner of the baluster.

Mrs, Norris saw it, a scrawny rat was momentarily lit at the top of the stairs. She bolted forward like a shot. This was it! A chase! Glee flowed through her as she bounded up the stairs tearing to the right after the fleeing rodent.

Scabbers was in full flight. That cat! His fright of Serius Black forgotten. He ran up the next flight of stairs. Up and up he ran. He could here the cat behind him but dared not look back in fear of being caught.

Mrs, Norris was enjoying the chase. He was fast, very fast. She was regretting the extra helping of plimpy she had eaten. She was not quite as spry as she once was, but there was no way this sorry excuse for a rat would escape.

Up and up Scabbers raced, his mind thoroughly consumed with fear. He was now closing on the seventh floor, there was no where to go. He looked around helplessly. Then he saw it, a ladder leading up into what looked like a trap door.

Puffing hard, Mrs, Norris spun on the slick stone of the seventh floor. She looked around, the rat couldn't have gotten away, he was fast, but not that fast. She looked around again. Then she saw the movement in the shadows near the roof, racing up a wooden ladder was the skinny prey. She bolted after it.

Scabbers scurried into the empty room. It was full of cushions and pillows. Scarfs and other fabric flapped everywhere from the breeze the open window let in. He raced into a large pile of pillows , shaking in his terror.

Mrs, Norris entered the room slowly. The dark not a factor. She still had her eyesight, even if she was a bit winded. She would make it pay for running so hard. She would toy with it before enjoying the late night snack. She carefully moved into the room, alert for any sound, smell, or movement. She jumped onto a shelf to her left, hoping for a better view of the room.

Scabbers shook so violently he was sure he would betray his position. He could hear the cat moving on the shelf above him. There was a soft thud. Something had fallen on top of a pillow next to him, a crystal ball rolled onto the floor directly in front of him.

_Darn_! she thought. She had been weaving in and out of tea cups and balls of glass. She had knocked one of the balls off with her hip. She froze, looking around. She thought she could see a pillow moving ever so slightly where the glass ball had fallen. She jumped down to investigate it a little more.

He heard the soft sound of padded feet drop nearby, she was coming. If he bolted he would be seen immediately. There was nothing to offer protection for at least ten feet where a worn armchair sat next to the hearth. He saw a shadow move across the ball in front of him. Then he saw large yellow eyes. He shrieked!

Mrs, Norris wearily made her way to where the ball of glass was. She turned in front of it. Her eyes went wide. There was a ferocious rat three times the size of the one she had been chasing. Its beady eyes large and huge teeth bared in a roar. She hissed, the hairs of her neck standing on end, her heart thumped hard in her chest and she fled the mutant demon promising herself she would chase no more, plimpy wasn't that bad after all.


End file.
